Murder Victim's Family Sues NJ City for $200 million

[chanel]

The horrific case of deranged Jersey City man who stabbed his sister and two of her children to death in their Wegman Avenue apartment five years ago is going to be heard in New Jersey Supreme Court.

But not to ascertain the guilt or innocence of Dwayne Wilson. He's already been tried, convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for the triple murders.

The Supreme Court justices are being asked to decide if the botched handling of 911 calls played a role in the deaths of Marcia Wilson's daughter, D'Artagnania, and her son, DeQuan, who were both 11 when they were murdered in September 2005.

In August 2006, Paris and the estates of his brother and sister filed a $200 million suit against the City of Jersey City, the 911 operators, a dispatcher and two police officers, claiming the two children could have survived if mistakes in handling and responding to 911 calls were not made.

On April 15, 2009, a Superior Court judge dismissed the suit saying the defendants were not liable due to state laws providing immunity to municipalities and certain government officials.

At the time of the murders, a neighbor, Anthony Andrews, called 911 twice -- at 12:47 a.m. the night of the stabbing after hearing "screams" and again 22 hours later. But Andrews gave the wrong address during the first call.

When Andrews called the second time and said he had called the night before and no one showed up, the second operator asked, "Do you have a life threatening emergency that's going on right now?" Andrews responded, "See, they should have come yesterday," and the line then went dead, court documents state.

According to Brian C. Harris, Paris' attorney, the operator erred by not asking Andrews for his callback number.

New Jersey Supreme Court to decide if Jersey City can be sued in case of man who murdered his sister and two of her children | NJ.com

Horrific tragedy. Horrific lawsuit.

What say you?

 

[Montrovant]

The lawsuit might not be horrific if it is not intended to actually win all that money but to make a point. Assuming they don't give out anywhere near that amount of money, it could be a good thing if the 911 operators were poorly trained or truly mishandled their job, if only to point a light at that.

Of course, it could well just be another frivolous suit hoping to make a money grab.

 

[chanel]

It amazes me that the 911 operators don't have caller I.D. In fact, I don't believe it. They say the operators erred in not asking for a call back number. They shouldn't have to IMHO. It was miscommunication on the caller's part. I don't blame him, but I don't think the 911 people did anything wrong. They didn't follow up because they simply weren't told.

 

[Yurt]

lawsuits like this, that ask for the pie in the sky award, are why so many have a negative attitude towards most lawsuits. it doesn't help anyone to bring a lawsuit like this. this is beyond punitive punishment and when you're suing a government entity, $200 mill is way outside their insurance coverage for an incident like this, so you are in reality suing your fellow citizens. and you are harming cases where there are legitimate damages that should be awarded.

 

[syrenn]

They are only looking for a pay out. To bad, my vote would be against.

 

[California Girl]

While I can understand the anger of the victims family, lawsuits like this are not the way to fix the problem.

 

[chanel]

Yes and whenever there is a child death, it seems everyone wants to "blame the system" or "blame society" There is only one to blame. And he is in jail.

 

[syrenn]

Yes and whenever there is a child death, it seems everyone wants to "blame the system" or "blame society" There is only one to blame. And he is in jail.

Sue him.

 

[JBeukema]

Wait. If I call 9-1-1 here, then hang up, then don't answer when they do their special *69 deal, they send police and fire.


So the technology clearly exists to trace the call...